Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[Heronseye]

Approaching cars that don't dim their hi beams when I'm commuting at night on dimly lit back roads. I'm practically blinded for a minute afterward seeing psychedelic spots. Thanks for blinding me driver!

[David Tollefson]

My wife claims I've been an "old man" since I was 14...

So I've been existing on about 5 hours of sleep a night. For some reason, I keep waking up at 2-2:30am, and then my brain kicks in and I can't get back to sleep. Might as well get up. And might as well go in to work. Meaning that I get some OT pay, and it happens before most every one else drags their collective sorry asses into the office. But it also means I'm dragging ass and eyelids by 7...

And I hate rain. I'm a desert dweller in my soul. I'm trapped in Tacoma, WA (okay, Puyallup, but it's close enough), suffering a S.A.D. existence for 9 months of the year.

[robin3mj]

Incoming weather threatening to wreak havoc with my holiday mileage blitz, Festive 500 or otherwise...

[advineas]

In general I am not grumpy at all, but today I planned to leave work at 1 pm, to get home early to get the Christmas tree, do some preparation still and then maybe go on an evening run. Guess what, It is 4 pm and I am leaving the office now, because some moron (who is supposed to assist me at work) just can not stick to deadlines and can not hand in proper, flawless work. But I told myself, it is Christmas time, so just not mention my frustration in his presence and just do the finetuning of the work has was supposed to do by myself. Boys and girl now I feel better.

the only thing is, that I need to cut the tree wearing a headlamp.

[xjoex]

People swapping tires for winter on a truck/suv. It's a damn truck it should have BFG ATs on it at all times, or you don't need a truck.

People who think they know me... :) I live on the side of a god damn mountain at 8500', we got 12" in the last two days. Then it got windy... I had to go in 4 Low and smash through a snow drift to get out of my driveway this morning.

They closed the canyon down to town 3 times yesterday because of ice. A bus with chains on it got stuck, then the wrecker pulling it out got stuck.

Not a real grump I guess.

[Brandon White]

House was broken into within a 45 minute window last Friday. "Only" got wife's laptop and backup HD - so basically - all her data is gone. While material costs can be fixed with insurance (maybe another grump next thursday?), there is a mental aspect that drives us to be overly cautious (with additional security measures) and worry about leaving the house within a certain window of the day as we still see shady people circling the area on bikes.

[Nierman]

Taking 1.5 hours to drive 12 miles (halfway to my office) only to get a call that the building's power is out and the highway exit is closed. As usual, most of the vehicles I witnessed off the road were 4wds. Dumbasses.

On an unchapped note, salvage yard 14" steelies and proper tires in this slick drifting shit rule. And I'm going sledding.

[roseyscot]

It was an extra raw morning commute, I'm tired from a 2 week old waking me throughout the night, so here what's chapping my hide:

• drivers who insist on passing me in blind corners or over blind rollers
• drivers who are oblivious to others because they are texting or reading something on their phone
• the federal government for not outlawing cell phone use while driving
  
• jerkoff politicians who refuse to compromise because they are pawns to the rich and big business
• lower class and middle class voters who continue to put these twits in office
  
• people who feel it is appropriate to own a semi automatic weapon
• companies that make, market, and sell semi automatic weapons

[mainemike]

jessica simpson is pregnant again! wtf?! i'd like this back please.

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[mainemike]

let me tell what else i hate: those stupid fucking "making of" extras on movies/dvd that i rent. yes, parts are just great, but you know whats not great? when they get the directors/producers/actors/whatever to start talking about it. 99% of the time its condescending self aggrandizing crap! little aren't we cool half jokes and oh look at us how tough it was shooting day in day out w/angelina jolie in fucking belize! "oh, and we barely had a script! to get a paramount pictures to ok a project of this nature, take a chance on a cple of guys like us! w/that budget, and we didn't even have a script! but, we were so fortunate - i called angie, whom i'm close w/because we both frequent the same fucking vegan dog park , and asked if her if she knew any hungry up and comers that might be interested in a wing-and-a-prayer project/little film we were throwing together? i just about fell off my iphone when she said: me! now we had some credibility. and her work ethic, its unparalleled in the industry. one day she played a joke on the crew! and bought them all starbucks!!! blah blah wtf blah..." somehow this whole line of bullshit has trickled down to everything from bikes to mittens to jelly - what a unique set of circumstances that came together for us to do this "project". so dam annoying.

[prolix21]

getting yelled at relentlessly for a business process that isn't 100% even though when it was implemented we said it would only ever be 95% at best.

having my review on the same day multiple systems crash and boss (and everyone involved) is in the worst mood ever.

[Matthew Strongin]

...as we still see shady people circling the area on bikes.

I hope you're not talking about me.

Big grump today in increasing order.

- Wind. I'm already over it and we're just getting into the windy time of year.

- Having someone threaten to "punch the shit out of my face" on my ride today because I reminded him of the 3 foot law after he buzzed me within inches to rush past me to stop at, you guessed it, a red light. I told him to follow the law and after the light turned green and we both started rolling again he cut me off, slammed on the brakes, got out of the car and came at me like he was going to hit me. Really sours a long ride on my day off. I got away, but my heart was racing for a while.

- Dogs getting old. My older pup had to go in for emergency surgery yesterday after a cyst ruptured and she wouldn't stop bleeding. During surgery to remove the cyst they also found another large mass that needs to get biopsied. Now she has a large incision, a bunch of stitches and is too uncomfortable to eat or walk or do much of anything. Hate seeing her like this. And with the holidays we won't have a result from the biopsy for a while.

[davids]

Co-workers who organize the luncheons and, when asking for a contribution (1) tell me to give what I think is appropriate and then (2) tell me that they're giving a lot more. If you had a figure in mind, why do you make me guess?

Co-workers who, when presented with a no-cost, no-work holiday luncheon, bitch about what is not on the table in front of them: "Where are the forks?" "I wanted corned beef!" Season's greetings of the worst sort.

[zetroc]

the level of care that mentally ill, depressed, and addicted people get in this country is fucking horrendous.

granted, there's no easy solution. we can't just forcibly medicate people, right? we have to get them on the program. personal liberty and all that. but what's it going to take for us to realize as a society that we can't just keep ignoring problems? adam lanza's mom (RIP) reportedly never mentioned her son's anger issues. is this because she was afraid of what people would think? was she sticking her head in the sand, hoping that if it was ignored the problem would go away? if the nancy and adam lanzas of the world are people that we want to help instead of marginalize, we need to act immediately to remove the stigmas. these days people use the word "crazy" as a pejorative word every single day to dismiss others. we can't just dismiss other human beings anymore - these are our friends, our neighbors, our relatives, and where are they going to go? prison? suicide? homelessness? addiction? this is the real struggle, and to solve it we're going to have to make uncomfortable moral compromises and really sit down and talk.

all of this "ban guns now" stuff is just that, talk, looking for a law to pass to feel better about doing something. but a piece of paper won't necessarily solve anything - it's going to take a sea change in the way we look at things on a much broader scale. in china, mentally ill people don't get guns and shoot up schools. they get knives and stab schoolchildren instead. that's because they're mentally ill and guns are hard to get there, not because they're NRA members or republicans or listen to Bill O'Reilly on the radio.

you can make a difference, but it's not going to be easy. there is no easy answer. anyone who says that a law on a piece of paper will stop tragedies like this is just trying to get reelected (and/or get your money) and you shouldn't believe a word out of their mouths.




also, i'm grumpy because I still have a cough and it's been a week.

[Tom]

Fake plastic snowmen on the lawn that's still green in the third week of December in upstate New York because we're into the 23rd of the last 24 months that is running above average temperature. And Christmas lights. Yeah, nothing says lamb of god sent to this world to redeem us for our sins like blinking multi-colored strings of light bulbs outlining the architectural features of your raised ranch. Real nice.

[Matthew J]

Using GYGOT to make one sided political statements otherwise not allowed on the VS.

[Larry]

hey co worker i'm working on your short notice project...it would be fucking nice to have all the information up front!

[David Tollefson]

Using GYGOT to make one sided political statements otherwise not allowed on the VS.

I was wondering about that...

[nahtnoj]

Trying to have respectful conversations with otherwise decent human beings who have strong opinions about contentious issues but simply lack the intellect to realize that their position is easily refutable and based on nothing except their own narrow, untested assumptions and worldview.

[joosttx]

Sitting next to some who stinks of cigarettes while on a plane. I am experiencing this as I type.